Chinese Hot & Sour Soup – Comforting Chinese soup, loaded with pork and mushrooms and spiced with garlic chili sauce and rice wine vinegar to give it a delicious hot & sour flavor.
Soup, soup, soup. I love soup. And when it’s cold outside, there’s nothing like a warm, comforting soup to make everything alright.
In honor of the huge winter storms sweeping the nation this week, I wanted to share a new soup recipe. I just shared this creamy Poblano Corn Chowder recipe last month so I think it’s time to go for something a little healthier and more on the brothy side.
I’ve tried a couple of different Chinese soups that were pretty tasty but I never dared to make any at home, mostly because the ingredients were intimidating to me and I never had them around the house.
Well, that all changed when I made pork dumplings a few months ago. Now, I suddenly have sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, and rice wine vinegar sitting in my pantry, begging to be used!
And voila! Those ingredients went to good use in this Chinese Hot & Sour Soup:
Hot & sour soup is a broth-based soup that gets its name from the balance of hot and sour flavors. The hot flavor comes from the garlic chili sauce and the sour comes from the rice wine vinegar. This soup also has tons of mushrooms, egg ribbons, and is traditionally made with tofu. I’m not a huge tofu fan so I just used pork instead when making it for myself.
How is this soup made?
This soup is so super easy to make and is ready in less than 30 minutes. First you add in the spices, broth, and mushrooms and bring it to a simmer. We need to get the broth nice and hot to prepare it for the egg ribbons. The egg ribbons are made by drizzling in the whisked egg into the hot soup. As soon as the egg hits the hot broth, it immediately firms up and scrambles into a beautiful, swirly ribbon.
Next, we just add a cornstarch slurry to thicken up the soup and then finish it off with chunks of pork tenderloin, sliced green onions, and sesame oil for flavor.
Tips & Tricks
This is one of the easiest soups you’ll ever make – I swear! But there a still a couple tips I can share that will ensure you have no issues:
The reason we mix the cornstarch with a little of the chicken broth separately from the rest of the soup is to ensure the cornstarch does not clump. So make sure you do this step just as advised in the recipe!
This recipe calls for many Asian ingredients – garlic chili sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. I found all these ingredients in the ethnic food aisle of my grocery store. They’re pretty common so you shouldn’t have issues finding them.
Make sure you slowly drizzle in the whisked egg while stirring the soup. This will make for beautiful egg ribbons and not egg clumps that you will get if you rush this process.
To make sure the egg cooks immediately upon enter the broth, the broth MUST be hot. Therefore, make sure you take the time to simmer the broth before adding in the egg.
There you have it – another soup recipe to keep you warm during this cold snap. What other soups are you making this week? I’d love to hear all about it. Let me know in the comments below!
Comforting Chinese soup, loaded with pork and mushrooms and spiced with garlic chili sauce and rice wine vinegar to give it a delicious hot & sour flavor.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time30 minutesmins
Servings: 8servings
Ingredients
8ouncespork tenderloincooked
8cupschicken broth
8ouncesbaby portabella mushroomssliced
1/4cuprice wine vinegar
1/4cupreduced-sodium soy sauce
2teaspoonsground ginger
3teaspoonsgarlic chili sauce
1/4cupcornstarch
2largeeggswhisked
4green onionssliced
1teaspoonsesame oil
Instructions
Slice pork tenderloin into bite-sized strips or cubes. Set aside for later in the recipe. Also, set aside 1/4 cup of chicken broth for later.
Add the rest of the chicken stock to a large dutch oven, along with mushrooms, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic chili sauce. Whisk to combine. Heat over medium-high heat to bring broth to a simmer.
While waiting for the soup to simmer, whisk cornstarch and 1/4 cup of chicken broth that you set aside to make a slurry. Once the soup is simmering, stir in the slurry for 1 minute to help thicken the soup.
While stirring the soup in a circle, slowly drizzle the whisked egg into the center of the swirling soup. Once the egg hits the hot soup, they will turn into egg ribbons. Add in the pork, green onions, and sesame oil. Finish the soup off with salt and pepper, to taste. If you want more heat, add in some more chili garlic sauce. Serve immediately.
Chinese Hot and Sour soup broth is made with chicken stock which is flavoured with typical Asian ingredients such as soy sauce, sugar, pepper and ginger. The soup is thickened slightly using cornstarch/cornflour – I love how the glossy broth coats the ingredients when you scoop it up!
This nutrient helps in bone development. Also, it helps in boosting the metabolic rate of the body. The soup also has many other essential nutrients like vitamin B-6, phosphorus, iron, and magnesium.
Wood ear mushrooms - A classic in hot and sour soup! It's got a crunchy texture and sometimes known as black fungus and cloud ear mushroom. Wood ear mushroom is normally sold dry and require rehydrating with hot water before use.
A squeeze of lemon or lime juice or a little vinegar can help cut through spiciness. Acidic foods tone down the spiciness in foods and can add some flavor, making this a good trick for seafood dishes or creamy soups and chowders.
Hot and sour soup is a classic Chinese dish that is spicy, savory, tangy, and has so much umami. Not only is it super flavorful but it is also full of different textures which makes it so satisfying and addictive to eat.
Of the soups commonly found on Chinese restaurant menus, egg drop is the healthiest. Totally starving when you walk into a Chinese restaurant? Order soup as an appetizer, and egg drop is tops. "It's really made with eggs, so it does offer quite a bit of protein," says London.
It is highly recommended that this recipe be relished by diabetics only occasionally and in small quantities. This is just a mere 'treat' and does not qualify for a regular diabetic menu.
Hot and sour soup supports healthy Liver function. The taste of sour resonates directly with the Liver and helps promote flow. Once you learn how to make the base of the soup, try using different ingredients.
Key Takeaways: Hot and sour soup is a low-calorie, high-protein dish that's rich in vitamin C and essential minerals. It helps with digestion, boosts metabolism, and supports a healthy immune system.
1. Hot and Sour Soup. A timeless classic and evergreen Chinese soup, as the name suggests, Hot and Sour soup is spicy and tangy that tingles the taste buds and pulls all the right strings in your heart.
Add a little lemon Juice. You might need to add a little bit of sugar to counteract the sour from the lemon. But just keep tasting with the lemon juice and sugar until you can't taste the pepper as much anymore.
Add more white pepper if you like it hot and add more vinegar if like it sour! White pepper gives the soup its signature heat, and the vinegar levels can be adjusted according to how sour you like your hot and sour soup.
In a saucepan, combine the chicken broth, water, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and hot pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer while you assemble the rest of the ingredients. Place the chicken slices into a bowl and toss with the sesame oil to coat.
Stock is generally made from bones, and broth is generally made from flesh. In both cases, they are often supported with aromatic vegetables, but in the case of stock, left unseasoned for maximum flexibility in recipes, whereas broth will usually contain at least salt and pepper.
While hot and sour soup on its own may not directly lead to weight loss, it can be a healthy addition to a balanced diet and weight loss plan. The soup is low in calories, high in fiber, and packed with veggies, making it a filling and nutritious option that can help with portion control and satiety. 5.
Add more white pepper if you like it hot and add more vinegar if like it sour! White pepper gives the soup its signature heat, and the vinegar levels can be adjusted according to how sour you like your hot and sour soup.
Introduction: My name is Wyatt Volkman LLD, I am a handsome, rich, comfortable, lively, zealous, graceful, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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